Q&A: Could i get a virus by connecting to a proxy?

Alot of times i use sites where my ip is banned or i have to appear to be someone else. Usually i get a proxy address like this 222.60.8.86:80, and change my proxy settings in firefox. Most of the time im on it for less then 5 minutes. So far i haven’t gotten a virus or anything but is it possible for the host of the proxy to access my computer?

Best answer:

Answer by Jason Hmaybe, really depends on what type of proxy your using.

“I’m afraid although there is some truth in this, it is far from a good idea. To use an anonymous proxy you must have 100% confidence in the integrity of the server and of the people controlling this server. You are passing all your data mostly unencrypted through this proxy in order for it to forward to the web page you requested. All your information and personal details can be accessed via the administrators of this proxy server – a simple capture like tcpdump will log every piece of data that passes through.

Guess where my friend got his Anonymous Proxy Server List from

You may have guessed already, it was a list posted on a Russian hacker site. He was trusting all his personal information to a proxy server supplied to him by a bunch of Russian hackers. On a scale of bad ideas it really did rate pretty highly but people do it all the time. They feel secure by the mere name, anonymous proxy server sounds good doesn’t it until you see Igor sifting through your data one late night looking for passwords and account numbers.

And a LOT of proxy servers are run by hackers in their own homes.
When they pass on the information from the website you have gone to they can ATTACH ANYTHING THEY WANT, and by that I mean Trojan’s viruses, spyware, key-loggers…..ANY Malware they want. After all You have OK’ed this proxy server and you don’t even know who is running it!!!

Sometimes you may just get a few more adds directed at you and sometimes they may get your Credit and Bank info. There is no way to tell.
Proxies are really useless anyway. If you commit an online crime the authorities WILL trace you back through the proxy and to your ISP and then to you. (even if you go through 10 proxies)